Talented Schoolboy Accidentally Kills Himself Wanting To Experience How Robin Williams Died

When 16-year-old Temidayo Joseph decided to experiment with death, wanting to experience for himself how comedy legend Robin Williams felt when he committed suicide, he didn’t expect to take his own life.

Back in August of last year, a court heard that Joseph died in is bedroom, and was found by his mother, Kate Ibok.

The Essex Coroner’s Court heard that leading up to his death, Temi, as he was known by his friends, had spoken to a friend in Nigeria about Robin Williams and his tragic death.

As Essex Coroner Eleanor McGann said today, “There was a conversation which took place about big news in the media about the death of Robin Williams. Temi had said ‘I don’t understand why somebody would do this to themself’. It’s perfectly possible that he did not have any idea how easy it is to hang yourself by mistake.”

Being that Temi had just received his GCSE results, with his family having high hopes for him enrolling at a college, the verdict of accidental death, read by McGann, noted, “It is very easy to jump to the conclusion someone has got their GCSE results and think he has hanged himself. That conclusion, in this case, would be wrong. He got the results he expected to get — he knew what pathway he would follow.”

On top of that, McGann continued, “There was no evidence at all that Temi wanted to kill himself — quite the contrary this was a young man with everything to live for. He had a loving and sound extended family, lots of support and was very popular at school, not just with pupils but teachers as well.”

In speaking about his son, Temi’s father, Vincent, cried, saying, “I did not know about the link to Robin Williams before we went into the inquest. Temidayo was a lovely young man and a great character. He did not intend to kill himself – he was a very talented boy and lived for his football – that’s all he wanted to do.”